The piadina in history

1200bC

Born of flour, iron, and fire. The piadina descends from the unleavened bread prepared with various flours and cooked on red-hot slabs. Its most ancient traces date back to 1200 BC at the sites of the Lombard stilt houses.

The Etruscansprepared a gruel of grains, and influenced the Romans, who started to make “puls” with barley, then with spelt, and then with wheat, until the piadina became a tradition in ancient Rome.

Born of flour, iron, and fire. The piadina descends from the unleavened bread prepared with various flours and cooked on red-hot slabs. Its most ancient traces date back to 1200 BC at the sites of the Lombard stilt houses.

The Etruscansprepared a gruel of grains, and influenced the Romans, who started to make “puls” with barley, then with spelt, and then with wheat, until the piadina became a tradition in ancient Rome.

1300

Precious food for the poor

The piada was eaten during Middle AgesAges too. In 1300, the year of the plague, it was made with dried legumes and acorns. During the Renaissance while the creative minds of the culinary arts were inventing refined dishes, the poor continued to eat the piada, which during famines was often made with bran or even poorer ingredients.

A genuine culture

In 1371 the piada appeared for the first time in a historic document: the Description of the Province of Romagna by Cardinal Angelico. Today, still, the piada is imbued with genuine Romagna culture, its raised areas recall its territory, and its flavor brings to mind the air of the local beaches.

18001900

The recipe starts to gain hold

Passing under the rolling pin of history, the piada arrived up to the 1800s thanks to the people and peasants who passed it down in different regional versions. It came back into vogue in the 20th century, made with soft wheat and corn flours, cooked on the “testo” griddle, and filled with cold cuts, grilled meats, vegetables, and cheese.

Appreciated by the greats

It was celebrated as the “good bread of Romagna” by the great local poet Giovanni Pascoli, who described it, complete with a recipe, in the presentation to his short poem “La Piada” in 1900: “Piada, pieda, pida, pié are the names by which the people of Romagna call the flatbread of wheat or corn or mixed flours, which is the food of the poor people; and it is mixed without leavening; and it is cooked on a clay griddle, which is called a ‘testo’, over the fire…” In 1920 it gave the name to “La Piê”, a magazine of poetry and culture founded by the physician and writer Aldo Spallicci for the recovery of the dialect and folk traditions of Romagna.

1960

The arrival of Loriana
During the economic boom of the 1960s, the piadina left the domestic hearth to light up the passion of tourists and vacationers, immediately attracted by the first kiosks selling it along the streets leading to the beaches. A small family business was started up in Forlì, to produce the first la prima Piadina Loriana.

1960

The arrival of Loriana
During the economic boom of the 1960s, the piadina left the domestic hearth to light up the passion of tourists and vacationers, immediately attracted by the first kiosks selling it along the streets leading to the beaches. A small family business was started up in Forlì, to produce the first la prima Piadina Loriana.

TODAY

A winner on all tables

At the dawn of the 21st century, the piadina is eaten like bread on family tables, in cafeterias and canteens, trattorias and restaurants, and as a healthy, tasty “fast food” in various versions: classic, light, or gourmet.

Recognized as “typical”

In Romagna it is still the typical street food; in the kiosks, it is prepared fresh, either rolled out thinly “Rimini style”, or thicker, as in the “Bassa” district. In Italy and abroad, the Piadina Romagnola has been recognized as a typical product since 2011, and awarded the IGP quality marking of the European Union.